GOD S WAYS ARE THE COMPASS FOR LIVING.

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1 Have you ever tried to walk a straight line for a distance? Then looked back and see whether you were in the right direction? If you are off course by 1 degree, after 1 foot you are only off line by 0.2 inches, but after 100 yards, you'll be off by 5.2 feet. Still not huge, but noticeable. After a mile, you'll be off by 92.2 feet. One degree is starting to make a difference. If you traveled from Philadelphia to Boston, you'll be off by 5 miles. Now, if you were trying to get from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., you'd end up on the other side of Baltimore, 42.6 miles away. If you went around the globe, off by 1 degree, you would miss your destination by over 400 miles. The numbers mount exponentially. In a rocket going to the moon, you'd be 4,169 miles off (nearly twice the diameter of the moon). Crossair Flight LX 3597 was a scheduled flight from Berlin, Germany, to in November of But somewhere along the way, their navigation was off and the plane ended up crashing 2.5 miles short and 500 feet north of the runway they were supposed to be on. 24 of the 33 people on board were killed One degree makes a difference. What is true in the physical realm is also true with our lives. We choose to take our life in a specific direction. We vow to change. We promise that things will be different. Over time, we drift from that path. Small decisions, little compromises, seemingly inconsequential choices. One day we look up and we wonder, How did I get here? How do we keep this from happening? Or, since we know that this kind of drift will happen, how to we notice it quickly and get back on track. What is the basis for this? Is it other people? Our own sense of what is best? Our experience? It would be ludicrous for one plane to use another plane as the basis for course correction. They are moving as well. It wouldn t work to use visual aids only they are simply not accurate or specific enough. It takes something unchangeable that is outside the plane s influence. It takes a compass. What does that look like for us? The chapter in Nehemiah (chapter 10) is a continuation from last week. If you haven t listened to last week or read it, I encourage you to do so. The entire community of Israel had spent time in confession and repentance. What we learned is that true repentance always involves change. A change in direction. A decision to live differently in response to God s amazing character and deeds. Repentance is recognizing that you are off course. Repentance is noticing that 1-degree drift. But this is incomplete. There is a need to make the required course correction. That is that this week is all about. How do we make the course corrections? What is the standard for that course correction? The people of Israel are serious about moving from repentance to action. They want to commit to this change in their lives in a significant way. They write down their commitments and seal it. Essentially, they were making a commitment, a promise, a resolution, that was serious. This chapter begins with a list of those doing so. What is less significant is the specific names, but what is interesting the groups of people that it represents.

2 Top Leadership (v1) The priests (v2-8) The Levites (v9-13) The leaders of the people (v14-27) The rest of the people (v28) The leaders are making this agreement on behalf of the people but the point is that each individual has a responsibility to accept for himself or herself this commitment. A leader can lead by example, but each person is responsible for their own commitment. This section ends as follows: 28 The rest of the people priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand 29 all these now join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord. This notion of blessing and curses is perhaps not quite so familiar to us today, but it was familiar to the people of that time. Essentially, the agreement was that as long as Israel was living according to God s paths and ways as laid out in the law that God gave through Moses there would be blessings and they would enjoy God s presence. However, it they chose to reject God s laws and ways, and do their own thing, and worship other gods, then there would be severe consequences for the nation as a whole. This is not about earning God s approval or acceptance. What the people are doing by making this promise is that they are accepting the consequences of disobedience should they choose to walk this way. What is really interesting for us in the basis for their commitment for living. I. They committed to live according to God s Word. Their commitment was to live by the ways God laid out. Their compass, their course changer, was what God directed. Remember, repentance, which we discussed last week, is realizing and understanding how my life, beliefs, behavior and thoughts have strayed from God s path. The commitment that Israel was making was to bring themselves back in line with that path. A vague statement of good intentions in my life is not sufficient. A resolution to be a better person, to be nicer, to get closer to God, while OK, will be insufficient to bring us back into alignment. It needs to be translated into a practical and visible change of lifestyle and practice. We have said before that growing as a disciple of Jesus is to move from unbelief to belief in every area of life. We want to increasingly take God at his word and act like what he says is true and good. (That s why what s important here at Hope is movement. You can truly come as you are, but no matter where you are with God, we want to moving towards him. Always.) We almost always agree in the abstract that God s principles are good. It is when we must put them into practice that the rub happens. When what God says conflicts with what I want, we are faced with a decision to go his way or my way. 1 degree off or on the path. What we do indicates what we really believe about God. If God is all-knowing and all-wise, then it makes good sense to listen and obey Him.

3 When I act contrary to him, then I either believe that he is less than good (because he is withholding something good from me), less than wise (I know better) or he is incapable of watching over my life (I must be in control to make sure it goes the right way). The Israelites are committing that they will follow God s ways (which we will find out next week did not last for them). What is spelled out in the verses that follow are specific areas of commitment for the people in how they are going to follow God s ways. In all likelihood, these were the areas they were most deficient and needed attention. 30 We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons. Really? This is the first thing they commit to? Here s where context helps. They were not to intermarry with the people around them. This is not because God is racist or has any issue with a specific people group. This is all about being holy. God knew that when the people would intermarry with those who served other idols, did not worship Yahweh, or had no interest in following God s laws, it would cause problems. The oneness of marriage brings into it the belief systems of both parties. All of you know marriages, and maybe you re in one, where one person is a person of faith and the other is not. It adds a whole lot of difficulties to the relationship. It would drag them into sin and idolatry. It would remove them from God s blessing. As protection, God instructed them to stay separate. What the Israelites were really committing to was to stay distinct. II. They committed to distinctness. There is a separateness to this commitment. They were to be distinctive. Distinctive does not mean isolated. God s purpose was that the entire world was to be blessed through Israel and certainly there was no way that could happen if they isolated themselves from all those other nations. They committed to not adopt the ways of the world, to live according to their standards or their rules. The word did not get to decide what was important to them. It is so easy to slip into living like the world around us. We are barraged constantly with invitations to do what we know is not the right way. We are enticed to alter our course by 1 degree. I could make an entire list here, but you know what this looks like. When we are listening to and committing to live according to God s word, the Spirit will show us where this happens. In reality, living according to the word of God will automatically make us distinct because it runs contrary to much of what we see around us. When we love when hate rules. When we speak words of life and grace when everything else says to be harsh. When we are honest where everyone else is dishonest. When we are generous in the face of financial difficulty. When we truly put others before ourselves. When we serve the least of these. When we do these things, we are committed to distinctness. If it helps, think of it this way. They were recommitting to their role in the world around them. They were to be the influencers, not the influence.

4 31 When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts. Once again, a little context helps. One of the commands God had given Israel was to observe a Sabbath rest. There were different levels of Sabbath. Weekly: They were to have one day per week where they did not work. It was to be a time of physical refreshment and spiritual connection to God. Yearly: There were numerous holidays and feasts and commemorations that were observed during the year. (We have these too, with Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.) Like the weekly Sabbath, the purpose was to rest, enjoy relationships and remember what God had done and who he was. 7 Year: They were supposed to take a year off every 7 th year. In our culture, this seems crazy. Basically, at the end of every 6 th year, they were to store up all they harvested, then not work in the 7 th year by not planting crops, etc. Then they resumed in the 8 th year but since you don t get the food until the end of the 8 th year, you basically needed 3 years worth of goods to carry you through. Part of this was the canceling of debts. In that seventh year, you were to cancel what people owed you. You forgave the debt. That s not fair you think. Why did God consider this all so important? Aren t we supposed to work hard and do our best? Why did the people have to re-up on this one? III. They committed to dependence. This was all about depending on God. When you take a day off each week. When you stop working during holiday celebrations. When you take a year off from planting and harvesting, you are making a huge statement about what you believe about God. You are trusting him to provide. You are living practically in dependence on him. Thinking of it on the flip side they were refusing to live independently of God. They actually commit to this in two ways. A. They committed to depending on God in time and priorities. We already saw that they were letting God set their timetable. Who decides how you spend your time? Who decides what it important and what is not? V32-34 is a description of how the Israelites and their leaders commit to worship. They commit to support the work in the church and the Levites specifically agree how they are going to go about the process of making the sacrifices prescribed by the law. Why? Remember that in all likelihood they are focusing their commitments on what they had been neglecting and repenting of. There was a long history of neglecting worship. Of putting other things first. Of making idols. Of ignoring temple worship. They realized as they understood God s word that this was a priority. It mattered. So they committed to prioritizing worship with others and connection to the community of faith. To really cement this dependence, they make a financial commitment. 35 We also assume responsibility for bringing to the house of the LORD each year the firstfruits of our crops and of every fruit tree. 36 As it is also written in the Law, we will bring the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, of our herds and of our flocks to the house of our God, to the priests ministering there. 37 Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and olive oil. And we will bring a tithe of our crops to the Levites, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work. 38 A priest descended from Aaron

5 is to accompany the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the tithes up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. 39 The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and olive oil to the storerooms, where the articles for the sanctuary and for the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the musicians are also kept. We will not neglect the house of our God. The worship of God, the movement of his work, the maintenance of those who did this full time was supposed to be funded through generous giving. Really though, there is a bigger principle at play. B. They committed to depend on God in their finances. Catch the wording. There is a word that is used throughout. First. There are a couple of different words, but they involved two things. Timing and quality. They were going to give to God FIRST. They were going to give God their BEST. Financially! To prioritize him in their lives. To trust God by putting him first in their finances. There is a conscious decision required to do this. Remember, there is a famine going on. People are struggling. The Persian king is exacting heavy taxes on them. Many people were having struggles to make ends meet. Yet they decide that they will trust that God will provide. They will depend on him. They will demonstrate it by giving freely from their money to him. We ve said this often before. God is not interested in getting your money. He is interested in making sure your money doesn t get you. But committing to support the temple and to give of their first and best, the people are making a huge declaration about what they choose to believe about God. Living generously and giving God your tithe is less about what happens with the money than it is about the state of your trust and dependence on God. Those ways are known by following his word. When we do, we become a distinct people. People who influence the world around them for Jesus instead of the other way around. When we follow his directions and word, it leads us to depend on him for everything including the things that are most precious to us. Living according to God s Word often makes absolutely no sense from the perspective of the world. It s not logical refrain from conducting business every seventh day or from planting a crop every seven years. It makes no sense to give for the operation of the Temple when people were already struggling to make ends meet. It makes no sense to forego marriages that could lead to political alliances that would provide security and safety. But those are the kinds of actions that demonstrate in a tangible way that I really am trusting in God and not in myself. Have you drifted. Have been 1 degree off in your life. Maybe it s been that way for a while and it is though you are far away, in the middle of the forest. Maybe it s been recent. Maybe the consequences of that drift isn t that apparent yet. Maybe the drift has been caused by letting other people be your compass. By letting your desires by your guide. GOD S WAYS ARE THE COMPASS FOR LIVING. He is calling you back. He is inviting you to align with him. Let s accept that invitation daily.